When I say shuttle I mean auto rickshaws that run on a sharing basis. They carry more than the legally permissible three passengers, sometimes up to seven. Four people sit in the back of the auto. Three in front, besides the auto driver - a performance that needs balancing skills of an acrobat. And courage.
I am a unusually gifted person. And according to the Universal Law of Gifts in Large Number most gifts will find their way to the exchange counter. This particular gift makes my backside (and other sides) endowed with more than average space and matter. I am still working on exchanging this one.
When I take one of these shuttles, as a second person or the third person, I am okay. Apart from the smiles and a small smirk, and brief, one word jokes, shared among the inmates. But when I am inside, and a fourth person comes... all of the above is magnified to slap-stick scale.
I, of course cannot and thus, never sit in an auto where I am the fourth person. When I am the fifth or sixth I get to sit in the front, on the side of the driver where I can perch a tenth of my backside with all my dignity and locomote safely away from the ridicule, one slip away from a mangling road accident. But I have often wondered what do the people who come in fourth think, why do they put up with it? Instead of say waiting for another auto in which they are not the fourth or insist on being the fifth or the sixth. Like I do.
"I have a problem with sitting in the back seat" , I told the auto driver [strategically skipping the words fat and backside], when I had insisted on skipping being the fourth for the first time. "Shuttle main problem to hote hai nay [Of course there will be problems in a shuttle]" shared the driver in his modified Gujarati-Hindi to me.
"It's naseeb bhai, " explained an older person who was sitting very uncomfortably another day; "some days you have to put up with it, other days someone else," he went on jovially.
Naseeb is a great way to come to terms with the harsh realities most of my co-travelers in shuttle deal with. It is a great way to keep their self separate from the circumstances, keeping hardships and failures in perspective, moving ahead in life with endurance and effort. Sadly it is not a part of my internal philosophy.
I have often tried to skip being the metaphoric fourth person in life. But the times I have not been able to avoid it, I gave in and became the fourth person, unable to get off the shuttle between fear and inability.
But before I could continue my humorous self-censure, the part-time pragmatist, who keeps passing through me, barges in, without even a polite knock -
The economy of the 6-7 people taking autos, some for shorter distances, works really well for everyone involved in the trade. On the supply side, the auto driver can move continuously between two fixed places (hence the name shuttle) making a little more than the metered fare for the same distance each trip. On the demand side, the alternative option for transportation for customers are public buses which are much less frequent, charge almost the same amount, and are also crowded. This illegal set-up fills a large gap.
 |
| An Autorickshaw (this one is in Delhi) Photo Credit: http://www.thebeigeroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/autorickshaw.jpg |
 |
| Shared Autorickshaw Photo Credit: http://www.travelpod.com/ |
When I take one of these shuttles, as a second person or the third person, I am okay. Apart from the smiles and a small smirk, and brief, one word jokes, shared among the inmates. But when I am inside, and a fourth person comes... all of the above is magnified to slap-stick scale.
I, of course cannot and thus, never sit in an auto where I am the fourth person. When I am the fifth or sixth I get to sit in the front, on the side of the driver where I can perch a tenth of my backside with all my dignity and locomote safely away from the ridicule, one slip away from a mangling road accident. But I have often wondered what do the people who come in fourth think, why do they put up with it? Instead of say waiting for another auto in which they are not the fourth or insist on being the fifth or the sixth. Like I do.
"I have a problem with sitting in the back seat" , I told the auto driver [strategically skipping the words fat and backside], when I had insisted on skipping being the fourth for the first time. "Shuttle main problem to hote hai nay [Of course there will be problems in a shuttle]" shared the driver in his modified Gujarati-Hindi to me.
"It's naseeb bhai, " explained an older person who was sitting very uncomfortably another day; "some days you have to put up with it, other days someone else," he went on jovially.
Naseeb is a great way to come to terms with the harsh realities most of my co-travelers in shuttle deal with. It is a great way to keep their self separate from the circumstances, keeping hardships and failures in perspective, moving ahead in life with endurance and effort. Sadly it is not a part of my internal philosophy.
I have often tried to skip being the metaphoric fourth person in life. But the times I have not been able to avoid it, I gave in and became the fourth person, unable to get off the shuttle between fear and inability.
But before I could continue my humorous self-censure, the part-time pragmatist, who keeps passing through me, barges in, without even a polite knock -
The economy of the 6-7 people taking autos, some for shorter distances, works really well for everyone involved in the trade. On the supply side, the auto driver can move continuously between two fixed places (hence the name shuttle) making a little more than the metered fare for the same distance each trip. On the demand side, the alternative option for transportation for customers are public buses which are much less frequent, charge almost the same amount, and are also crowded. This illegal set-up fills a large gap.
No comments:
Post a Comment